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12 January 2011

Global powers of retailing 2011

For the better part of two decades, retail pundits have been predicting the globalization of the industry. Now, however, they may be right. With many more companies ready to take the plunge, Global Powers of Retailing 2011 takes a close look at globalization – what lessons can be learned from retailers who have been successful? Which retailers seem to have the most international presence – and where?

Global Powers of Retailing, from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), in conjunction with STORES Media, identifies the 250 largest retailers around the world for the past fiscal year. But the report is much more than a list - it also examines trends for retailers to consider as they plan their growth strategies, provides a global economic outlook for retail, and discusses "Q" ratio - a way of drawing inferences about the future performance of retailers by examining current financial information.

Selected findings from report:

In 2009, more than one-third of the Top 250 suffered declining sales, up about one-quarter in 2008. For the entire group, sales-weighted, currency-adjusted retail sales rose a meagre 1.3% as delveraging by consumers and slow growth of credit continued to plague the industry.

Sales declined for the 4 top retailers – Carrefour, Metro, Costco and The Home Depot; 3 others had sales growth of 1% or less. Tesco, Schwarz and Aldi were the only companies in the top 10 whose sales growth outpaced the Top 250’s 1.3% composite growth rate.

As a region, European retailers demonstrated superior sales growth in 2009. The UK companies enjoyed relatively strong composite growth at 7.1% and also generated the highest level of net profitability (3.5%).

The Asia/Pacific region gained as a share of the Top 250. While China and India experienced a slowdown, they were able to avoid the recession that engulfed the world’s other major economies.